The sixth issue of the journal Photographica aims to explore the question of the nude model in photography. How does this photographic form influence its circulation and lead to new modes of distribution? What is a model in photography and how can the history of photography deal with this subject?
Solomon-Godeau, , soit sur le volet pur de la production et de la censure cf. The photographer and his model. Ranging from the more academically oriented nudes for artists to erotic and pornographic photography, from the standardization of poses to the search for new markets, nude photography has always represented a complex practice: It reveals experimental processes between photographers and artists, exchanges and itineraries between studios, ambitious commercial ventures cf.
Yet, beyond the scope of the studio, nude photography β like ethnographic or colonial photography with which it shares many problematic aspects, notably the often-violent domination of the body β is an iconography that allows us to understand the commodification of the naked body β female and male β from early on, and its transformation into a commodity.
The implications of this idea in the history of European photography were explored in the s and s, notably by American historians, be it from a theoretical perspective cf. Solomon-Godeau, or through production and censorship cf. However, more recently, these questions have received little scholarly attention. More recently, a third strand, based on the individual experiences of models, has called for a rethinking of the model as a co-producer of images and as a person with their own name, identity, and history cf.
How can we consider and look at this historically massive part of photographic production today, and to what extent can it represent a subject of study? They should not exceed 35, characters spaces and notes included. They should also be anonymised.
